Real Housewives of New York star Leah McSweeney is calling for more diversity on the show — which has an all-white cast.
“I hope that there’s not only diversity of race, but an even deeper diversity of where someone lives or what their interests are,” McSweeney told Page Six. “I hope that there’s just more diversity all across the board because New Yorkers are not a monolith, obviously. I think that it is gonna head in that direction.”
The show has maintained an all-white cast since the beginning of the show, but the Bravo franchises very rarely seem to mix it up when it comes to racial diversity on any of their shows.
This season of Real Housewives has only just welcomed their first-ever Black castmate, Garcelle Beauvais after 14 seasons.
“I have a lot of Black friends, and I hear a lot of stories from them about racism and the sh*tt they have to deal with,” she told us. “But it never stops being shocking and appalling to hear someone’s personal stories, you know?”
“I think it’s so hard for a lot of white people to understand and to even process it because it’s something we’re not used to dealing with,” she added. “I walk into a store, people think that I’m gonna shop my ass off because I’m white. They’re not thinking that I’m going to steal something or that I can’t afford something. That’s what my Black friends have to deal with.”